the band
Content
==== ==== click following link www.unitedjoo.com ==== ====
What are the ingredients necessary to create the perfect song? Singer/Songwriter Dan Fogelberg successfully answered this question on several occasions throughout his distinguished career. However there is no greater example of a "perfect" song than Fogelberg's "Leader Of The Band." Written for the 1981 double-album The Innocent Age "Leader Of The Band" immediately resonated with a broad audience. The song hit number 9 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and was Fogelberg's second chart-topping tune on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart (following the 1980 hit "Longer".) What was it about this song that helped catapult it to #1? Let's start with the music. In 1981 the Top Ten hits included: Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes", John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over", Rick Springfield's "Jesse's Girl" and Hall & Oates' "Kiss On My List". The radio was buzzing with over-produced music, vocals saturated in echo/reverb and "big" drum sounds. Fogelberg's "Leader Of The Band" was different. The song's introduction featured a pop (yet "classical") melody finger-picked on solo acoustic guitar. Through its simplicity, this bare-boned approach helped the song jump off the radio. Supported by Fogelberg's lone-wolf vocals the melody is immediately infectious thus filling half of our requirements for the "perfect song". This brings us to Fogelberg's unforgettable lyrics. Songwriter Carly Simon once said the most important line in a song is the first. "Leader Of The Band" supports this theory as Fogelberg opens: "An only child alone and wild, a cabinet maker's son." As listeners, we are immediately drawn into this song the way we were as toddlers when we would hear the words "Once upon a time..." In other words, we are ready for a story. The rest of the song is a lyrical ride finally revealing that "cabinet maker's son" was Dan Fogelberg's father. Lawrence Fogelberg was a musician and band leader and (as we've come to learn from the song) Dan Fogelberg's main musical influence. This becomes quite evident through the lyric "and he gave to me a gift I know I never can repay." However no lyric is as poignant as the closing verse: "I thank you for the music and your stories of the road. I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go. I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough. And papa I don't think I said 'I love you' near enough". How many of us share the sentiment of not having said 'I love you' near enough to a loved one? While this song may have been a personal tribute from Fogelberg to his father, the song's lyrics spoke for millions of other people. The final line of the song brings the listener full-circle as the "only child alone and wild" at the beginning of the song has lived life and raised a son who now sings: "I am the living legacy of the leader of the band". The tune closes with a recording of a marching band in tribute to Lawerence Fogelberg. While Dan
may have lamented not having said 'I love you' near enough he was able to take solace in the fact "Leader Of The Band" became a #1 hit in 1981 just before his father passed away in 1982. And he often said seeing his father enjoy the success of the song was one of the greatest moments in his career: "I was so gratified that I was able to give him that song before he passed on." With its strong, catchy melody and universal message Dan Fogelberg's "Leader Of The Band" is the blue-print for the "perfect song".
Kenn Morr is an internationally acclaimed Singer/Songwriter, Producer and Author with six albums to his credit http://www.kennmorr.com. Originally from Long Island, NY, Kenn lives in New England in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains with wife and two young sons. Kenn cites Dan Fogelberg among his main musical influences.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenn_Morr
==== ==== click following link www.unitedjoo.com ==== ====
What are the ingredients necessary to create the perfect song? Singer/Songwriter Dan Fogelberg successfully answered this question on several occasions throughout his distinguished career. However there is no greater example of a "perfect" song than Fogelberg's "Leader Of The Band." Written for the 1981 double-album The Innocent Age "Leader Of The Band" immediately resonated with a broad audience. The song hit number 9 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and was Fogelberg's second chart-topping tune on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart (following the 1980 hit "Longer".) What was it about this song that helped catapult it to #1? Let's start with the music. In 1981 the Top Ten hits included: Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes", John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over", Rick Springfield's "Jesse's Girl" and Hall & Oates' "Kiss On My List". The radio was buzzing with over-produced music, vocals saturated in echo/reverb and "big" drum sounds. Fogelberg's "Leader Of The Band" was different. The song's introduction featured a pop (yet "classical") melody finger-picked on solo acoustic guitar. Through its simplicity, this bare-boned approach helped the song jump off the radio. Supported by Fogelberg's lone-wolf vocals the melody is immediately infectious thus filling half of our requirements for the "perfect song". This brings us to Fogelberg's unforgettable lyrics. Songwriter Carly Simon once said the most important line in a song is the first. "Leader Of The Band" supports this theory as Fogelberg opens: "An only child alone and wild, a cabinet maker's son." As listeners, we are immediately drawn into this song the way we were as toddlers when we would hear the words "Once upon a time..." In other words, we are ready for a story. The rest of the song is a lyrical ride finally revealing that "cabinet maker's son" was Dan Fogelberg's father. Lawrence Fogelberg was a musician and band leader and (as we've come to learn from the song) Dan Fogelberg's main musical influence. This becomes quite evident through the lyric "and he gave to me a gift I know I never can repay." However no lyric is as poignant as the closing verse: "I thank you for the music and your stories of the road. I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go. I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough. And papa I don't think I said 'I love you' near enough". How many of us share the sentiment of not having said 'I love you' near enough to a loved one? While this song may have been a personal tribute from Fogelberg to his father, the song's lyrics spoke for millions of other people. The final line of the song brings the listener full-circle as the "only child alone and wild" at the beginning of the song has lived life and raised a son who now sings: "I am the living legacy of the leader of the band". The tune closes with a recording of a marching band in tribute to Lawerence Fogelberg. While Dan
may have lamented not having said 'I love you' near enough he was able to take solace in the fact "Leader Of The Band" became a #1 hit in 1981 just before his father passed away in 1982. And he often said seeing his father enjoy the success of the song was one of the greatest moments in his career: "I was so gratified that I was able to give him that song before he passed on." With its strong, catchy melody and universal message Dan Fogelberg's "Leader Of The Band" is the blue-print for the "perfect song".
Kenn Morr is an internationally acclaimed Singer/Songwriter, Producer and Author with six albums to his credit http://www.kennmorr.com. Originally from Long Island, NY, Kenn lives in New England in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains with wife and two young sons. Kenn cites Dan Fogelberg among his main musical influences.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenn_Morr
==== ==== click following link www.unitedjoo.com ==== ====
